Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1887-02-14
The Terrible Railroad Accident.

though the report of the death OF H.
W. Tewksbury proved to be a mis-
take. He suffered a fracture Of a leg
and an arm and was barely saved
from burning. The u of the ac-
cident remains a mystery with the
two theories of q broken axle on a
Pullman car, and a broken rail some
rods from the bridge, the most
probable. The broken journal might
have caused the breaking of the rail,
while on the other hand. the broken
rail might have caused the broken
axle. The train of six cars and the
engine was moving rather slowly at
the time, and it Is possible that only
the rear car was off the track when
the bridge was reached. The bridge
was a very long one, the top of
which was fifty feet from the water.
The rails ran on top of the bridge.
The water in the deepest part of the
river was from ten to twelve feet
deep, with two layers of thick, strong
ice. The real car seemed to have
swaved over, and to have drawn
down. one after another, the three
cars forward of it, when a coupling
became detached, and the mail and
baggage cars went on with the en-
CINE. As the cars fell, they turned
partly over, and were crushed
and broken by the fall. Many were
killed outright by the fall, and the
weight of timbers, ETC., upon them.
At this writing it seems probable
that the whole number of persons on
the train was from 81 TO Sc The
dead and missing are about forty,
~thirtv-four of whom have been found.
OF the burned and mutilated bodies
only sixteen have been positively
identified. We gather the following
interesting facts relative to the acct
dent
NOBLE WORK OF POSTAL FL PER
KIN>-A THRILLING NARRATIVE.
Mr.. Moses Perkins, clerk of the
postal car and proprietor of Perkins
hotel ut Epping. \. H., told the fol-
lowing story
The first thing l knew | felt a
sudden jerk. as though we had struck
something. | ran t. the door and
said My God. the cars have gone
into the river. Get ready, Aiming
ton. and 90 with me to the rescue.
/ took the axe and crow-bar and
made all possible haste back across
the bridge. and down the embank-
ment of the river TO the wreck. The
condition of affairs there was beyond
the power of mind to adequately por-
tray. The piteous cries of the
wounded and helpless were heart
rending. and when the flames burst
out and enveloped the cars, the scene
was appalling. 1t would not do to
be fear-stalked. so | set TO work re-
lieving the imprisoned passengers. ]
had TO work alone. The first person
/ found was our brakeman, Ed.
Banks. of West Lebanon. He said.
Where are WEI ! said, i don't
know. Let US get out some of the
men who are in these cars They
were shrieking and calling for help.
] went 10 the second sleeper in ans
wer TO calls there for help. and ]
found a man who had managed to
extricate himself from that portion
OF the wreck, dressed only In shirt
and drawers. The car was in flames
and he was trying to pull out a man
and his wife. We succeeded in res
euing them and laid them upon the
snow. This gentleman and myself
were the only ones there At the time,
as none of the villagers had reached
the scene. The only ones who were
on the train and did not fall from the
bridge were myself, my partner Arm
ington. Baggage-master Cole of Pen
nacook. Expressman Robbins, the
engineer and fireman. o man by the
name of Prue, and one other whose
name j do not recall. After we had
carefully placed this gentleman and
his wife in the snow, the voice of a
girl inside the car attracted my at
tention. asking if ] could not help
her. / said / would try. ] reached
in and caught hold of her, but l could
not move her. She said she was
pinned down by her night-dress, and
if | could give her a knife she tho't
she could release herself. l gave
her a knife and she cut the night
dress and ] drew her out, but found
she could not stand. / found a blan-
ket, wrapped her in it and laid her
on the snow. / was then attracted
by the voice of an elderly gentleman
In the first coach, then on fire, calling
for some one to save his brother. /
ran there with my AK, hewed away
until ] found a man lying fat upon
his stomach, piteously begging to be
helped out. / got him out before
the flames reached that end and laid
him on the SNOW. He "a afterward
taken to Pavne's house. where he
died. BY that time the heat from
the burning bridge drove me away,